


Here I go again

by bluecalicocat



Category: GOT7
Genre: Brotherly Love, Domestic Fluff, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Gen, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Kim Yugyeom-Centric, Platonic Relationships, Pneumonia, Protectiveness, Sickfic, everyone worries, hyungs taking care of their sick maknae, slight angst? maybe kind of, yugyeom saves a life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-29 11:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20081272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecalicocat/pseuds/bluecalicocat
Summary: Yugyeom saves a life, and consequentially suffers pneumonia, but it's all good when he's got six people to take care of him.





	1. first

Things had actually been going quite well up until that point, at least in Yugyeom's own opinion. He'd been enjoying his time by the water. At first, he'd only meant to go for a walk through the forest, but when he'd ended up by the lake, he'd decided to stop for a while and just chill on a bench near it.

There weren't many others there, only a few people occasionally passing him by. One man, though, had stopped and was hanging out alone over by a small jetty where there currently weren't any boats. He wore a bright yellow jacket which made him stand out a lot against the grey sky. Yugyeom found his gaze drifting towards the man multiple times while he sat on the bench, listening to music through a pair of headphones, allowing his thoughts to wander freely.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds as song's final chorus played, to be able to fully focus on the music. When he opened them again, he almost forgot to breathe.

His eyelids opened just in time for Yugyeom to see a blur of yellow as it fell toward the surface of the water, breaking through and disappearing underneath it so quickly that he didn't have time to consider his own reaction before he was on his feet, running toward the lake.

The headphones were carelessly thrown behind as he rushed, barely getting any air into his lungs despite feeling his chest expand as he ran. He never stopped to think, not even once, and soon he was flying through the air. For half a second, he felt weightless, before the the sensation of water encircling his body was the only thing he was aware of.

Underneath the surface, it was much darker, and the cold overtook Yugyeom's entire body at once, but his mind wouldn't let him feel it too much, focusing intently on looking for the man in his yellow jacket. It wasn't that hard since the bright color stood out in the darkness.

He had only been in the water a few seconds but already felt like he was suffocating. His arms and legs pushed water aside as he swam further down, not letting his constricted chest stop him from getting to the man. Dirty water burned in his eyes, but he kept them wide open.

The man looked like he was many meters away, but Yugyeom kept pushing himself down, until finally, finally, his outstretched hand closed around the soft material of the man's jacket. He immediately moved his other hand down to get a better grip around the seemingly unconscious man. Yugyeom let his legs sink to touch the muddy ground, before pushing against it. His leg muscles ached, his eyes were stinging, and his head felt heavy, but he never stopped moving.

His body started moving upwards from the push of his legs against the ground, and he had to pull with both his arms to make sure the man didn't get left behind. The water surface felt like it couldn't have been further away. Yugyeom's lungs were begging him to draw a breath, but he forced himself to hold on, to wait just a few more seconds.

It got lighter and lighter the closer he came, and when his head finally broke through the surface, the first thing he did was draw a deep breath. Yugyeom blinked and tried to move the man so that he was above the surface, too, but couldn't see very clearly and wasn't sure how exactly they were positioned. For a dancer who's used to being hyper-aware of exactly how he's moving, it was very disorientating.

His ears had also started hurting by now, probably from the change in air pressure, something he didn't notice until he came back above the water.

Yugyeom kept his grip around the man tight as he swam back toward land. He distantly heard people talking in loud voices. Maybe they were yelling, but he couldn't tell. The only thing he could focus on was trying to ignore the burn in his muscles, which obviously only made him think more about it, and not giving up yet. A few more meters.

The sand he crawled up on had never felt as good as it did now. Yugyeom used the last of his strength to pull the man up on land, before completely giving up and falling down on his knees in the watery sand.

Immediately, there were people surrounding him. It wasn't exactly a crowd, giving how few people actually went to this part of the forest, but maybe three or four strangers had gathered on the shore and watched as Yugyeom dove after the man.

Someone put a jacket over his shoulders, and Yugyeom noticed that he was shivering. He turned his head to see that someone was helping the unconscious man he'd just pulled up from the lake, pressing on his chest and checking things like pulse and breathing. Yugyeom was extremely worried for the man, but he knew he had to rely on everyone else to deal with it from this point.

Voices were talking, probably asking Yugyeom questions, but his brain didn't have time to register any of the words before the sound of sirens was interrupting everything they might have attempted to ask.

Yugyeom watched through blurry eyes as an ambulance pulled up close to them, followed by a police car, and the boy found himself being relieved that someone in the crowd around him had been so quick to call 119. His own mind was in the middle of completely giving up on him, and he felt like he wasn't able to move right now.

Emergency workers walked out of the vehicle, hurrying up to the man in the yellow jacket, who Yugyeom realized was slowly regaining his consciousness.

It appeared as if one of the policemen was talking to one of the people that had watched everything happen, one of the bystanders. Yugyeom kept shivering and pulled the jacket closer around himself, trying to force his brain to pick up on what they were saying. He guessed that the woman the police was talking must have mention him, because the police turned his eyes to the shivering boy before nodding and walking over to him.

"Hello", he police said, and Yugyeom could only nod. His teeth felt like they had been locked together with glue. "I heard that you're the one who pulled him out of the water. What's your name?"

"K-k-kim Y-yugyeom", he managed to stutter. The policeman nodded again.

"And you jumped in to save this man, managed to get him up, and saved his life. Do you know who he is?"

Yugyeom only had to shake his head this time, making it easier for him to reply.

"I see. And how old are you?"

"N-n-ninet-teen."

The cop might have talked to the paramedics, but Yugyeom was too out of it to really keep up with what was going on. Some of the other bystanders spoke some more, the yellow jacket man was moved away, and the next thing Yugyeom noticed was that the other cop had crouched down in front of him.

"Do you need to be taken to the hospital, too?" she asked him, maintaining eye contact and speaking very clearly to make sure that he understood what she was saying.

Yugyeom shook his head, partly because he didn't like hospitals, but mainly because he figured that he'd probably feel better after a bit of rest. After all, the only thing that felt wrong with him right now was that he's a little cold.

She glanced back at her colleague, who nodded to show that he'd heard them, before saying something to the paramedics who also nodded and drove off, before the female officer turned back to Yugyeom.

"Did get here by foot?" He nodded. "Okay, then we'll give you a lift home."

She held out a hand to help the boy stand up, but ended up supporting a lot more of his weight as they walked toward the police car. Yugyeom realized he was still wearing the stranger's jacket and quickly turned around to scan the dissolving crowd, meeting the eyes of a young woman who was watching him fondly.

When she noticed he was trying to get the jacket off of himself, she started shaking her head, gesturing for him to keep it on.

"Take it", the woman smiled at him. "You need it, and it's not like I'll miss it, anyways."

Yugyeom smiled gratefully, not trusting that his voice would carry if he'd tried to respond.

The police car was warm inside, enough for him to get back his feeling in his fingers, and after telling the officers where he lived, Yugyeom tried to think as little as possible.

***

"Youngjae, I promise I didn't put that cucumber there!"

Jackson's voice was a lot louder and a lot more upset than one would have expected given the situation. Yet here he was, nearly yelling at the younger, who only replied with more yelling.

Bambam rolled his eyes at his hyungs, hearing their fight all the way to the living room he was currently in. They'd been going at it for almost ten minutes now, and even Bambam could tell that this was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Someone had bought a cucumber, put it in the fridge, and Youngjae had asked Jackson (pretty calmly) if he was trying to poison him, which for some reason had offended the older. One person yelling led to another person yelling, and now, they were both arguing. It had been funny to listen to at first, but at this point Bambam was just annoyed.

He had come out from his bedroom to ask the others where Yugyeom was, since the boy didn't respond to any calls, but seeing as they were busy, Bambam had sighed and instead situated himself by the window so that he could see when their maknae came home.

So far, he had gotten no information about the whereabouts of the maknae.

Then, just as Bambam thought that waiting like this was useless, he spotted a police car pulling up right in front of their house. Not really thinking about what the police's actual reason for being here could be, Bambam stood up from the couch and yelled,

"Jackson, you're going to jail!"

"Yes!" Youngjae screamed, entirely in agreement with that, without really knowing what the heck Bambam was talking about. All he was thinking about was the mysterious appearance of a cucumber in their kitchen.

At that moment, Mark came out of the bathroom with a towel over his shoulder, clearly coming right out of the shower. He raised his eyebrows at Bambam in question, not really caring much for what was going on in the kitchen, but wondering why the younger was talking about jail.

"Oh, hey hyung", Bambam greeted.

"Why's Jackson going to jail?" he asked, but his eyes looked behind Bambam a second after he finished speaking, and they widened as he caught sight of what had inspired Bambam's idea. Mark moved closer to the window, stopping next to the younger and staring out to watch as the door to the backseat of the police car opened and a tall figure stepped out.

Jaebum's voice from behind Mark and Bambam stopped the pair from commenting on what they were seeing.

"Why is Yugyeom coming home in a cop car?" he exclaimed loudly, which immediately brought silence to the arguing couple in the kitchen. The both of them came trudging out into the living room, currently in a truce in order to find out what's going on with the rest of the group. Jackson and Youngjae joined the other five as they all watched their maknae walk from the police car and toward their front door.

As everyone simultaneously realized that Yugyeom would be stepping inside any second, they all broke out of their trance and hurried toward the door. However, they were all beat there by Jinyoung, who threw the door open before anyone else had the chance to. The other five stopped behind him, ready to bombard their youngest with questions.

Really, what reason could he possibly have for coming home in a police car? He'd only been gone for around an hour, which wasn't enough time for anything huge to have happened to him. In that case, he'd probably be at the police station or at the hospital, not back at home.

Yugyeom looked up when he noticed that the six older were blocking his path, but he didn't seem too shocked to see all of them there. The only emotion on his face was exhaustion.

His eyelids were drooping and his mouth was slightly open. Around his shoulders, he had a jacket that definitely wasn't his own, as if he'd been been freezing so much that he needed someone else's clothes on top of his own, which were... Wet. Actually, all of Yugyeom seemed wet, as if he'd jumped in a pool with clothes on.

They were all so shocked by what they were seeing that they forgot to speak, and instead it became Yugyeom that broke the silence.

"Uh, hyungs? Could you let me in? I really need to get out of these clothes, and then sleep for three years."

Jinyoung still hadn't cleared up his mind enough to know what he wanted to ask first, but at least he stepped back when Yugyeom asked, gently nudging the people closest to him so that they'd do the same.

Yugyeom didn't look at them as he walked past, and didn't offer more of an explanation. They all stayed behind and looked between one another, trying to figure out what was going on. Something had obviously happened, but it didn't seem like Yugyeom was ready to tell them about it at the moment. He'd said so himself: He needed to shower, and then sleep.

"Listen up", Jaebum interrupted everyone's thoughts. "We're not gonna let him avoid telling us what happened, even though that's probably what Yugyeom wants to, but we're also not gonna force him to talk. At least not right now. We'll let him recover, just like he says he wants to, and all of us will talk more once he wakes up. Deal?"

In the end, they were all in agreement, despite the worry that had surfaced among them upon seeing the condition their maknae was in. At least he was well enough to take care of himself. That's always something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next part focuses more on the hyungs taking care of yugyeom, this is more like an intro/what led up to the things that happen next :))


	2. second

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the comments & kudos <3
> 
> and fyi: 38,6°C is supposed to be about 101,5°F

Yugyeom heard a distant signal, but couldn't immediately connect to what it was. Where was he? He only heard the signal briefly, and it sounded like he was hearing it from under water, but it was enough for him to wake up.

Well, it took another few minutes before he was aware enough to open his eyes, but something had woken him up.

He opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was how cold it was. Yugyeom drew the covers closer around himself. Logically, he knew that he shouldn't be this cold right now, and he could tell that the bed was most likely warm, but he felt like he was chilled all the way to his bones. At the same time, though, his skin stuck to the bed as if he'd been sweating all night, which he figured he probably had.

When he closed his hand around the edge of the covers he was hidden underneath, he could tell that his fingers were shaking. His whole body felt weak and, if possible, he seemed even more exhausted than he'd been when he went to bed yesterday.

Everything was so contradictory, and Yugyeom's head was hurting, so he decided to close his eyes again and ignore the world for a little bit longer.

Sadly, someone decided to push his bedroom door open at that exact moment. That person was Jaebum, whose eyes met with Yugyeom's, giving him no time to pretend to be asleep. He'd already been noticed.

Jaebum appeared to wake up a little more when he saw that Yugyeom was up, and he turned around to call for the others.

"Guys! Gyoemie's awake!" he yelled, and Yugyeom distantly heard feet running toward them. Honestly, he hadn't been expecting anything less. Yugyeom wasn't sure he had the energy to feel right now, but he also didn't really have the energy to explain anything. Everything was just draining.

He sat up slowly, and the movement made him cough. Jaebum turned back to the younger as he heard the sound coming from the room, eyebrows furrowed as he wondered what exactly was wrong.

"Are you okay, Gyoemie? Your lips look kinda blue", Jaebum commented, voice laced with worry.

Yugyeom shook his head and made a dismissing gesture, still with one hand in front of his face as he continued to cough. There wasn't more time for Jaebum to question him after that, as the rest of the members started filing in through the open door. Jaebum stood back and let them enter, his eyes on Yugyeom the whole time.

"Yugyeomie", Jackson said as a way of greeting while he plopped down by Yugyeom's feet on the bed. Bambam sat next to him, taking up the last space on the bed.

Youngjae and Jaebum went to sit down on top of Bambam's bed on the other side of the room, while Mark and Jinyoung stood next to the maknae. All of them were looking at him, and Yugyeom usually wasn't uncomfortable with this, but at the moment, he didn't want the attention.

Contrary to what he was expecting, they didn't ask what had happened yesterday. They told him that they already knew.

"You were on the news this morning", Jinyoung said, his tone a mix of impressed and worried.

"Yeah", Youngjae continued. "They said you saved a man from drowning."

Yugyeom just nodded hesitatingly, not sure if this was something that needed confirmation or just a statement about what they knew.

"Did you really?" Bambam exclaimed, leaning forward excitedly toward the maknae. His eyes were wide, waiting for Yugyeom to tell them more about it.

"Yeah", Yugyeom replied, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. To be honest, he didn't feel that well right now, and suspected that he'd gotten sick again after being in the water yesterday. He kind of had a cold a few days ago and it still hadn't gone away completely when he went out yesterday, so freezing himself down probably hadn't done much good for his health.

Mark frowned at their youngest from where he was standing next to the bed.

"Are sick, Yugyeomie?" he wondered, bringing attention to how Yugyeom was looking and sounding right now.

"I thought his lips looked blue", Jaebum told the others, standing up from Bambam's bed and heading over to where the rest of them were. He reached down and put a hand on the boy's forehead, knitting his eyebrows before speaking again. "I think he has a fever. Can someone get the thermometer?"

Jackson was up on his feet and out the door before anyone else had time to respond.

"Do you want me to go get you some breakfast?" Mark asked, directing the question at the sick boy in the bed. Yugyeom shook his head tiredly.

"I'm not hungry."

That had all of them confused, seeing as he hadn't eaten anything when he got home yesterday either. The last time they remembered seeing him eat had been at lunch the previous day, but even with that, there was no way he wasn't hungry now, since it was quite a while ago.

"How are you feeling?" Jinyoung wondered, moving a bit closer to the bed. So far, they didn't really know anything aside from the fact that he was probably feverish and that he didn't have an appetite. Also, his lips might have been some bluish color, but it was hard to tell when the only light in the room came from the door to the hallway.

"Cold", Yugyeom replied in a low voice, coughing once before continuing. "My chest hurts. It feels like acid in my lungs when I take a deep breath."

This had his hyungs frowning, but they didn't have time to conspire more about what could be wrong with him before Jackson came back, panting slightly, most likely from running to the kitchen and back. He handed the thermometer over to Jinyoung, who currently stood the closest to Yugyeom's bed.

The man leaned down to put the thermometer under Yugyeom's tongue, and they all waited for the time it was supposed to take, the room filled with an unusual silence. After Jinyoung took it, he handed it straight to Jaebum without looking at it, letting their leader know first.

"38.6 degrees", he read out loud. "That's high. He has to take some medicine, so it doesn't go up more." Their leader then turned to the maknae. "Do you have any other symptoms? We know about the fever, tiredness, lack of appetite, coughing, and chest pain... Anything else?"

Yugyeom shrugged, not knowing and not really caring much. He just wanted to sleep.

Bambam and Youngjae stepped forward immediately after, trying to mask their worry by pretending to be doctors that had come to check on their patient. While the younger ones jokingly checked Yugyeom's breathing, the hyungs turned to discuss among themselves. Yugyeom himself was too fatigued to care about what his group was doing, and simply let the other maknae-liners do as they pleased with him.

"I'll google the sympto-", Jackson began, but was interrupted as Mark snatched the phone from his hands.

"Don't", Jaebum was in agreement with Mark. "It'll probably tell you he has pneumonia or something. This could just as well be a normal cold. Let's check how serious it is before we start freaking out."

A small voice from the bed behind them caught the attention of the older ones.

"Uh, hyungs?" Bambam spoke up, causing all of them to turn back around. Jaebum raised his eyebrows, silently asking the younger to continue. Bambam didn't look so playful anymore, his tense expression a huge contrast to how he had looked only moments earlier. The same emotions could be seen on Youngjae's face as well.

"We were listening to him breathe", Youngjae started saying. "And it kind of sounds weird? I mean, he said his chest was hurting, but it actually sounds like it's hurting if you really listen."

"His breathing is really shallow", Bambam added. "Also, I googled the symptoms of pneumonia and I think he has almost all of them, and the site said to call a doctor immediately if you have chest pain or trouble breathing. Yugyeom has both."

Jaebum and Jinyoung both stepped forward, and Bambam handed his phone over to the leader, the website still open. Everyone watched as the older read what Bambam had just told them, confirming that it was true.

Coughing, fever, sweating, shaking chills, shallow breathing, chest pain, loss of appetite... The list continued, but it matched up well with Yugyeom's symptoms. A little too well, in fact.

Jaebum scrolled down further on the page and read that you should see your doctor right away in case you have difficulty breathing, have chest pain, a high fever, or are developing a bluish color in your lips and fingertips.

Yugyeom's fever was pretty high, he said his chest hurt, his breaths were coming irregularly and painfully, according to the boy himself, and he did have a fever. It didn't look too good for them.

Jinyoung, who had been reading from where he was standing right next to Jaebum, took his own phone out of his pocket and went to step outside.

"I'm calling", he told them, not leaving any room for objection. Not that any of them would have objected. The only thing worse than seeing a doctor just to find out that Yugyeom didn't have pneumonia would be to not see a doctor and instead find out later that he did have pneumonia. They'd much rather be safe than sorry.

Jinyoung left the room. They'd been relatively quiet up until that point, not nearly as loud as they're known for being. After Jinyoung left, they began living up to their image again.

Youngjae and Bambam started it by freaking out.

"Ohmygod, what if he really has pneumonia?" "Can't you die from that?" "What if he dies?" "Oh shit, I'm gonna be the maknae. I'm not ready for that!" "Yugyeom is dying!"

Jaebum was also concerned for their youngest member, but the two others weren't exactly being logical in their thought process. He sighed and put a hand over his eyes at the same time as Jackson joined the two on the bed.

"Wait, can you die from pneumonia?" "I think so." "Ohmygosh, we need to call an ambulance!" "We need to call his parents and tell them he's dying!" "He needs a doctor!" "We're not doctors, we're not equipped to deal with this..." "What are we gonna-...."

"Can you shut up?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't Jaebum that eventually snapped. The annoyed voice came from the bed, and had all of them turning around to see that it was actually Yugyeom who had spoken. Surprise was painted over all of their faces at his outburst. They had almost forgotten that the person they were discussing was still in the room, since he'd been so quiet while they were talking.

Well, one person didn't look surprised, and that was Mark. He only smiled and sat down on the free space next to Yugyeom on the bed, gently moving the maknae a little to the side so they could both fit. The oldest member put his arm around Yugyeom, and the youngest's first instinct was to put his head on his hyung's shoulder, which he did. Mark smiled as Yugyeom closed his eyes.

The three members that had been freaking out did their best to calm down again. They didn't even care that Yugyeom had spoken impolitely to them, because he definitely had permission to do so with everything that was going on, and they hadn't considered that their loud talking must have been annoying to him.

Jackson, Youngjae, Bambam and Jaebum observed the calm pair on the bed.

"Do you want to talk about what happened yesterday?" Mark asked softly. Yugyeom opened his eyes slightly, but didn't look up at anyone. He gave a slight nod before sighing (not a deep sigh, because breathing still hurt, but a small one) and readjusted his position.

"I had stopped by the lake", Yugyeom said. "It was only me and this man there. He was out on the jetty, and I noticed him because he was wearing a yellow jacket. And then... I just saw him fall, and I didn't really think. I just ran and jumped after him. That jacket is probably the only reason I could see him, it was so dark.."

Yugyeom quieted down as the memories played out in his mind. He didn't speak any more, knowing that the others were capable of figuring out what happened after that by themselves.

"You were so brave", Jackson praised, consciously making his voice softer than it had been when he was yelling a few minutes earlier, so as to not bother the younger.

"Yeah, well, I didn't feel brave." Yugyeom shrugged.

"You were", Bambam said, but none of them pushed him after that. They simply settled into a short-lived silence while waiting for Jinyoung. Short-lived, because the unofficial parent of the group reentered the room only seconds after Bambam had spoken.

Jinyoung looked around at the faces that had all turned to him when he returned.

"We should take him to a hospital", Jinyoung told them, which came as a surprise to absolutely no one. Everyone nodded and got up from their seats, aside from Jackson, who took on the role of helping Yugyeom get up, since he still felt exhausted.

All of them were up and out the door relatively quickly, leaving Jackson to help Yugyeom get outside after quickly changing out his sleepwear for another outfit. After that, they headed out from the dorms to get into the van and drive to the hospital.

***

"So, Yugyeom", the doctor said and glanced down at his notepad. "As suspected, you do have pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia to be more exact. You said earlier that you had a cold before this, so it probably developed from that." Jaebum was the only one Yugyeom had allowed to stay in the room with him, and the leader listened attentively to everything the man was saying.

"He gets to go home, right?" Jaebum asked, to which the doctor gave a slow nod.

"Yes. I'll prescribe some antibiotics, but I also recommend you use ibuprofen to control the fever, since it's getting relatively high. You have to keep taking the antibiotic until the infection is fully gone. Make sure to drink plenty of fluids and get a lot of rest, since it's important that you don't overdo daily activities until you're recovered. My main concern is your breathing but that should get better over time, and if it doesn't, then come back here.

"I also heard that you have quite the extensive practice schedule, but for the next two weeks, you shouldn't be working out at all. After that time, you can get back into it gradually."

The doctor said some more things, then checked up with Jaebum to make sure he'd gotten all of it, before Yugyeom was finally discharged.

From that point, Yugyeom had very little to say about his recovery, since there were six other people that had all made it their business to make sure that he followed the doctor's orders and, well, he didn't really have the energy to argue with the most stubborn people he knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next part: recovery :)


	3. third

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> each hyung has their own way of showing that they care ^.^

Yugyeom could still get others sick, so it was pretty quickly decided that all of them shouldn't be hanging around their maknae all of the time. Despite this, they also made the contradictory decision that all of them should get to see Yugyeom while he was sick, which didn't make the most sense, but that's what they decided.

As soon as they got home from the hospital, Yugyeom collapsed on his bed and promptly fell asleep. The rest of the members didn't have any practice that day, so they spread out around the dorms and did whatever they wanted to.

Yugyeom didn't join them for dinner, probably because he didn't want to get them sick. Instead of forcing their maknae out, Youngjae waited until everyone else had eaten before he brought some soup to Yugyeom's room.

The bedroom was surprisingly bright, considering he was resting. He had the blinds fully open even though he was laying down with his eyes closed on the bed. When Youngjae stepped inside, Yugyeom opened them to cast a glance at him, before smiling and moving to sit up.

Youngjae set down the tray with the food on a bedside table before taking his seat at the end of Yugyeom's bed. He felt bad that the younger, who was usually one of their most social members, had to stay away from the rest of them because of this.

However, he tried not to seem like he was pitying him, because Yugyeom hated being pitied. Instead, Youngjae helped the boy as he sat up to lean against the pillows behind him.

"You save someone's life, and this is the thanks you get", Youngjae commented with a smile. "Also, a lot of aghases are spreading the news from this morning. They never said your name on the news but people have recognized you from the pictures, even though they were blurred."

Yugyeom didn't respond as he ate a spoonful of soup, only giving a small nod to show that he's listening. Youngjae smiled again and lifted a hand to push Yugyeom's hair back. The maknae simply continued to eat his soup, too tired to talk, but enjoying the presence of the older.

"Have you taken your medicine?" Youngjae asked, turning to face the younger. Yugyeom shook his head slowly. To be honest, he hadn't thought about it since they left the hospital and now he had no idea where JB even put his medicine.

Youngjae got up from the bed with a knowing expression on his face, almost as if he could read Yugyeom's thoughts.

"Stay here", he told him, as if the maknae had any options. "I'll go find it."

While Youngjae disappeared out the door to get the medicine, Yugyeom tried to focus on eating his soup. He managed to finish half of it before giving up, placing the bowl on tray Youngjae had put on the nightstand next to his bed. His appetite wasn't at its best right now, but he figured he'd eaten enough.

Youngjae returned with a bottle of pills that he opened as soon as he was back in the bedroom. He tilted the bottle above his open palm, shaking it slightly until a small pill fell out, and he handed it over to Yugyeom.

"There's a glass of water on the tray", Youngjae told him as he moved to sit back down on the bed.

"Thanks", Yugyeom said, and it's the first time he'd spoken since Youngjae came to his room. The older only smiled in return.

"We care about you, you know", Youngjae spoke more softly, turning his eyes to the maknae. The implication that maybe Yugyeom didn't always know was there, as was the reassurance that they did care about him.

Yugyeom stilled with the pill halfway to his mouth, a gentle smile overtaking his face.

"I know."

***

Yugyeom had two blankets over himself, but still felt cold.

He rolled over on his bed with a sigh, but immediately started coughing, having temporarily forgotten about the whole issue with his lungs. It annoyed him to no end. Whatever way he moved, however he tried to breathe, it was still uncomfortable.

He'd been trying to fall asleep for at least one hour now with no success. Clearly. By now, everything was bothering him. The way the sheets stuck to his skin, the warmth of his pillow that had been flipped too many times to ever get cold again, the sound of his own breathing...

"Yugs?"

Yugyeom had almost forgotten about the person on the other side of the room, but even if he hadn't, he would have been surprised at hearing Bambam's voice since he thought the other was asleep. It made him feel bad to think that maybe his moving around had woken up the older.

"Sorry", Yugyeom spoke in a low voice. He heard the rustling of sheets coming from the other side of the room and turned his head to see that Bambam had sat up, looking toward the maknae.

"You can't sleep?"

It sounded like a question, but they both already knew the answer, and Bambam was on his feet before Yugyeom was even done nodding. The boy moved almost soundlessly across the room before stopping by the side of Yugyeom's bed, waiting for the younger to move a little so that there was room for Bambam to slip in next to him.

It didn't always feel obvious that Bambam was the older of the two, but in moments like these, when Bambam put his arm around Yugyeom and absent-mindedly started drawing patterns on his skin, the maknae was reminded that Bambam was his hyung. Even though he did it a lot less, Bambam was fully capable of taking care of him the same way his other hyungs did.

Or, maybe not the same way. There was something unique about how each of them took care of him, and Bambam was no exception.

"Does it still hurt when you breathe?" he asked.

"A bit", Yugyeom admitted, before repositioning his body so that he could speak easier. "It hurts a little bit everywhere and I just want to sleep so that I don't have to notice it, but I can't sleep, so it just keeps bothering me..."

Bambam hummed thoughtfully, and then he started talking. He wasn't really saying anything of importance, simply making up words to fill the otherwise silent room, but he kept his voice low in a way that Yugyeom found very calming.

He talked about mundane and trivial things, things that weren't attention-grabbing enough to distract Yugyeom from the tiredness that filled him. All the things that had been bothering him slowly faded to the back of his mind.

Instead of thinking about the texture of the bedsheets, Yugyeom felt Bambam's fingers drawing patterns on his skin. Instead of being bothered by the sound of breathing, he closed his eyes to the sound of Bambam's voice.

Yugyeom was asleep in less than ten minutes.

***

Yugyeom may have been sick, but the others still had a schedule to follow, something the maknae was well aware of. He'd already figured that he would probably have to spend his days alone at the dorms while his members went to practice, and that's what he was prepared for when he woke up the following morning.

He was met with silence after waking up, as expected, but it was interrupted only a few moments later. It seemed someone was moving around out in the kitchen, the sound of pans and other cooking appliances telling Yugyeom that maybe he wasn't as alone as he had been anticipating.

At least he didn't have to waste much time wondering who it was. He'd only just sat up on his bed, doing it very slowly so as to not bother his lungs, when there were footsteps coming from the hallway right outside his bedroom door. They were followed by someone knocking at his door, before it opened up.

Jinyoung saw that he was awake and didn't even care to ask for permission to enter.

He was carrying a tray with what was supposedly Yugyeom's breakfast, that he went over to put on Yugyeom's nightstand before turning to the boy in question.

"Did you sleep well?" Jinyoung asked gently, looking at the younger for signs that he hadn't, but Yugyeom simply nodded. "Lungs didn't bother you too much?"

"Bambam helped", Yugyeom told him earnestly, and it made Jinyoung smile. "Shouldn't you be at practice?"

"Not today." Jinyoung almost laughed at Yugyeom's confused expression. "I'm skipping it to be with you instead. I know you don't like being alone."

While this was comforting to Yugyeom, the small crease between his eyebrows told the older that it also bothered him a bit.

"You don't have to do that, hyung", Yugyeom argued, but it came out weak. He didn't actually want Jinyoung to leave. "I can survive on my own today, I know you should be in practice."

"You're hilarious, Gyoemie." This only cause the maknae to furrow his brows, so Jinyoung went on to clarify. "For thinking that your not-so-genuine protest is gonna make me change my mind about going to practice. I've already decided I'm staying home with you."

He then gestured toward the breakfast tray, making Yugyeom notice the medicine that the older had brought along with the actual food.

"I'm gonna go shower now. Eat up before I come back, or else I'll have to force feed you." Jinyoung looked up from where he was fixing with the food and saw Yugyeom's eyebrows raised in a suggestive way. "And not in the kinky way, you little shit."

Jinyoung turned around and left the room to the sound of Yugyeom laughing, rolling his eyes as he did, but he couldn't even pretend that he wasn't fond of the younger and his antics, because he was. He definitely was.

***

Yugyeom never liked feeling excluded, and even though that wasn't what was happening right now, he didn't like feeling so out of the loop. He knew he was missing out on practice, but he was more bothered by the fact that he was missing out on other things. Everyday things, like how Youngjae accidentally hit himself in the head with a water bottle during a break, or when Bambam fell down from the couch and tried to play it off by doing a poorly executed cartwheel.

The one thing protecting Yugyeom from feeling too left out was Jackson.

Obviously he couldn't do anything about the fact that Yugyeom had to stay home and rest, or that he was forbidden from working out, but he did his best to make the younger feel better about his situation.

As soon as he got home, the first thing he did was look for Yugyeom. He usually found him in his bedroom or on the couch in the living room, trying to entertain himself as well as he could given the situation.

It quickly became a routine for the two of them. Jackson sat down with the maknae and talked to him about the day, telling him all the things Jaebum never included when he informed their youngest of the things they had practiced that day. Jaebum kept it professional, while Jackson skipped straight to the funny bits.

He showed Yugyeom videos from the day, if he had any, and while some people would have felt more excluded after seeing that, Yugyeom was comforted by knowing what he hadn't been there for.

Jackson didn't only talk to him about that day's practice. He always had a lot to say and tended to be pretty loud, so it took a lot of time for him to run out of things to talk about. Yugyeom simply appreciated that he didn't have to sit in silence.

They were seated on the couch in the living room, eating dinner, while the rest of the group sat at the actual table and ate. Jackson had been with him ever since the group got home from practice that day, only leaving to go to the bathroom or to get them food.

They hadn't been speaking while they ate, but silence never lasted long in the dorms.

"You know you can call us, right?" Jackson spoke, turning away from his food to face Yugyeom. The younger tried not to look like he was wondering what Jackson meant by that. He nodded slowly, since he knew how a phone worked and didn't really get what else there was to know in order to call them. Jackson clearly sensed his confusion as he continued.

"During the day, I mean."

"But you're busy", Yugyeom said, giving up on pretending to understand what the older meant. "I can't just interrupt."

"First of all", Jackson put his food down as he got ready for a speech, "if you call in the middle of practice and someone's phone rings, that's their fault for not putting it on silent. But what I'm trying to say is, no one would mind. We'd call you back as soon as we could."

"It's not important, though", Yugyeom commented, still not convinced. "And I see you when you get home, anyway."

"But it gets lonely during the day." Jackson didn't seem like he was going to let Yugyeom win this. "And if you get lonely, or feel like you wanna talk to us, or just wanna hear us talk about something, anything, then you can call. That's important. Your feelings are important, and it's important to us that you know you can reach out anytime. We might not answer at once, but we'll call back."

"I don't have a reason", Yugyeom made a last attempt, but this time, Jackson simply stared at him.

"Gyeom. Did you not hear what I just said? You don't need a reason. It's fine if you just wanna talk for five minutes. We'll always have time for you."

Neither of them was sure who initiated it, but after Jackson spoke, the pair of them hugged, and their food was long forgotten by the time they finally pulled back from each other.

***

All that existed was darkness. Something uncomfortable kept touching his skin, and another thing graced his leg, threatening to pull him further down into the great nothingness where he was stuck...

There was no air. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't satisfy his lungs because there was no air-...

Yugyeom opened his eyes and immediately drew the deepest breath he had in quite a while. It hurt.

He managed to hold it in for only a fraction of a second before the coughing fit started, and Yugyeom could feel his eyes watering, from the pain or the panic, he couldn't tell. Everything was a mess, including his own thoughts.

It was still relatively dark around him, but nowhere near as dark as it had been in his dream a few seconds ago. His eyes were still adjusting, and the tears made it blurry, but he could vaguely make out the shapes of different pieces of furniture around the bedroom.

Yugyeom tried to be as quiet as possible, but his hyungs always had this instinctive knowledge whenever there was something wrong with one of their dongsaengs. All he had to do was let out a sniffle before there was a voice coming from the other side of his door.

"Gyeom? Are you up?"

The dorms were quiet aside from his own breathing and the person that had just spoken, making Yugyeom wonder if the rest of the members were even home. The soft voice coming from outside had to be his eldest hyung, Yugyeom concluded, but he heard nothing else.

"Yeah." Yugyeom winced at his own voice. It definitely did not sound fine, even though he tried to make it seem that way.

There were footsteps coming down the hallway, probably toward his bedroom, before the door slowly opened. Mark became visible in the light from the hallway outside, and he looked over at Yugyeom after opening the door. The younger was sitting up on his bed, still focused on breathing.

Mark must have noticed the state Yugyeom was in, because any hesitance that was there previously disappeared as soon as he saw the state the maknae was in, and he headed into the room toward the bed.

Yugyeom rubbed at his eyes and tried to smile at Mark, but the older has already seen.

"Nightmare?" he asked, and Yugyeom nodded. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

He was slightly hesitant to touch Yugyeom in case he was hurting, but Mark figured that most of the pain came from inside since he had no physical injuries, and so he sat down next to the maknae and put his arms around him.

"Lungs", Yugyeom replied, almost out of breath. "Breathing."

That was nothing new. Still, it wasn't good, especially if he kept struggling to breathe like this, so Mark did his best to help Yugyeom calm down by gently holding onto the younger and whispering comforting things.

"You're safe, I'm here now. See the light from the hallway? You're home. You had a nightmare, but it's over.."

Mark needed to go get Yugyeom's medicine, but decided to wait with that until the sick boy wasn't as upset.

They stayed in silence for a few more minutes while Yugyeom calmed down. 

That day, Mark stayed home with Yugyeom, and even though they didn't speak much, it was comforting to know that there was someone else there. Mark didn't need to use words to let Yugyeom know that he was cared for.

***

Yugyeom felt better. Sure, he had been advised by a doctor to skip out on practice for at least five more days, but he really didn't feel like that was necessary. His breathing was good enough, he felt tired of staying still for so long, and his body was aching to get to dance again. The only problem was the fact that JB didn't seem to agree with him.

"For the last time Gyeom, I'm not letting you go back to practice early", JB told him, lowering his cup of coffee onto the table as he watched the younger pull out the chair opposite him. The leader could already tell there was an argument coming.

"But I feel better!"

"Better isn't the same as fine. You're not fine yet, Yugyeomie."

The maknae pouted. They'd had the same discussion four times already and it always ended the same way. Maybe that should have said something, but Yugyeom was a stubborn person. He'd keep bringing it up until he had a valid reason not to practice, and so far, all he knew was that he didn't want to keep resting despite what the doctor had said.

And what did the doctor know? He was only a professional with years worth of education and experience in this field...

Yeah, maybe Yugyeom could see why Jaebum wasn't on his side in this, but the fact remained that he felt better. He wasn't fine yet, just like the leader had said, but it was annoying to be stuck at home when he felt well enough to be dancing.

Jaebum must have been able to tell that Yugyeom was still stuck up on it, as he sighed and looked into the younger's eyes.

"Listen, Gyoemie. I know you wanna get back to dancing, and I know that you probably don't care if it hurts or if you have to cough your way through every single song, but the rest of us do care. We don't like seeing you in pain, and we're not gonna let you cause yourself even more pain. _I'm_ not gonna let you cause yourself more pain. Please, Gyoemie, for me. Don't do it."

Yugyeom tried not to smile too wide after JB was finished, which he managed, but he couldn't refrain from raising his eyebrows.

"As far as speeches go, that was a pretty great one", he commented, making Jaebum roll his eyes.

"And as far as responses go, that was a pretty bad one", Jaebum retaliated. "But seriously. You need to rest more. Please?"

"Only if you cuddle with me."

And who was Jaebum to turn down such an offer if it meant he got to keep his maknae safe for another day?

The other members found them cuddling on the couch about an hour later, and after taking a few pictures (most likely for blackmail purposes), they may or may not have joined in, ending in a huge cuddle pile in the living room.

Maybe, just maybe, being cared for wasn't so bad, Yugyeom thought.

He smiled and closed his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i definitely wanna do more yugyeom-centric stories in the future, so we'll see what i come up with
> 
> thank you for reading <3


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